Play Therapy 1a Entering a Child’s World

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Play Therapy 1aEntering a Childs World
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• THE CHILDS WORLD
• II. THE CHILDS WORLD IS UNSAFE
• III. CHILDREN NEED COMPASSIONATE COUNSELORS
• IV. CHILDREN LONG TO BE HEARD

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• THE CHILDS WORLD
• Their perspective
• Innocent literal thinkers
• (Cognitive vs. affective)
• Childhood
• No financial worries,
• job pressures,
• societal problems

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The entire range of childrens mental life can
and does connect with their religious and
spiritual thinking. Robert Coles Harvard Child
Psychologist
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This is not a book about Christian counseling of
children. Rather, it is a book about counseling
children by entering their world. (Key to this
book is not an academic evaluation but a map to
enter a childs world)
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• THE CHILDS WORLD
• II. THE CHILDS WORLD IS UNSAFE
• Children grow and develop where they feel safe.
• Divorce
• 50 in and out of the church
• Redbook article
• TV Statistic
• 52,000 murders by age 18
• (Ethan closing his eyes crying, Change it,
  daddy, change it.
• Redbooks report
• In an article in American Psychologist Children
  suffer more victimization than do adults

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• Are Kids Growing Up too Fast? Children are
  being shortchanged. We hurry them toward
  independence before they are emotionally ready.
  Speeding children into adulthood not only makes
  this world unsafe for them, but it is also a
  national tragedy with serious consequences.
  Television, the nations leading baby-sitter,
  contributes to this.

Dr. Lee Salk NY University
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If we really want children to succeed and be
productive people, well respect them as human
beings and let them grow at their own pace.
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• THE CHILDS WORLD
• II. THE CHILDS WORLD IS UNSAFE
• III. CHILDREN NEED COMPASSIONATE COUNSELORS
• U.S. Office of Technology Assessment 12 of kids
  (7.5 million children), are in need of mental
  health care.
• In the city, 38.5 psychological disturbance.
• Only 11 received treatment.
• Only 10 of psychiatrists are committed to
  working only with kids.

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• THE CHILDS WORLD
• II. THE CHILDS WORLD IS UNSAFE
• III. CHILDREN NEED COMPASSIONATE COUNSELORS
• 5 deficiencies in preparing psychologists for
  working with kids)
• Too few developmental and clinical child courses
• Too little child assessment and therapy training
• Too little experience with children within a
  variety of settings
• Too little supervision
• Too much emphasis on techniques suitable only for
  adults

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• THE CHILDS WORLD
• II. THE CHILDS WORLD IS UNSAFE
• III. CHILDREN NEED COMPASSIONATE COUNSELORS
• IV. CHILDREN LONG TO BE HEARD

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Play TherapyChildren Communicate Through Play
Play is childs work, and this is not a trivial
pursuit. Alfred Adler
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I. CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY II. THE
IMPORTANCE OF PLAY III. THE THEOLOGY OF PLAY IV.
CALLED TO PLAY V. THE DEVELOPMENTAL IMPORTANCE
OF PLAY
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• CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
• Children do communicate through play, whether or
  not adults can interpret or understand the play.
• Six years old Larry

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• CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
• Six years old lived with his mother parents had
  split up because father had physically abused the
  children and mother.
• Larrys primary presenting problem was separation
  anxiety simply refused to leave his mothers
  side. Would not go to school would not sleep
  alone.
• Family therapy had helped the mother and sister
  cope with their difficult experiences and
  changes, but Larry continued to have problems.
• The books to which she had turned for answers
  also had offered no solutions.
• Larry was extremely resistant to entering the
  playroom at first then he acquiesced.
• He did not speak to the psychologist the whole
  time. But after 6 sessions, his mother reported
  an almost complete cessation of the separation
  difficulties. Somewhere within the process of
  being able to express himself in play, Larry was
  able to emerge from his fixed place of confusion
  and hurt and move toward healing and emotional
  health. It is unlikely that trying to get Larry
  to talk about his troubles would have done any
  good indeed, it was unnecessary since the
  process of play effectively brought healing. As
  Larrys case illustrates, play is the way
  children process and express their emotional
  lives.

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Dr. Garry Landreth, director of Center for Play
Therapy at the University of North Texas
Childrens play can be more fully appreciated
when recognized as their natural medium of
communication. Children express themselves more
fully and more directly through self-initiated
spontaneous play than they do verbally because
they are more comfortable with play. For
children to play out their experiences and
feelings is the most natural dynamic and
self-experiences and feelings is the most dynamic
and self-healing process in which children can
engage.
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• I. CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
• THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
• In their book The Power of Play, Frank Caplan and
  Theresa Caplan summarize several unique
  attributes that children find appealing about
  play
• Play is a voluntary activity by nature. In a
  world full of requirements and rules, play is
  refreshing and provides a respite from everyday
  tension.
• Play is free from evaluation and judgment from
  adults. Children are safe to make mistakes
  without failure and adult ridicule.
• It encourages fantasy
• It increases interest and involvement
• Play encourages the development of the physical
  and mental self

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• I. CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
• THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
• History shows that children of every era have
  played
• From the Black Plague of the Middle Ages
• Nazi concentration camp

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• I. CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
• II. THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
• Children not only use play to comfort themselves
  but also need play to make sense of and bring
  some order to a nonsensical and out-of-control
  world.
• Play forms a valuable bridge between the
  subjective and objective.

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Erik Erikson Suggested that children use play
to make up for defeats, suffering and
frustrations, especially those resulting from a
technically and culturally limited use of
language.
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Denise and Mark Wenton The instinctive method
children use for solving problems and mastering
conflicts is play. Play is the all-encompassing
business of childhood
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I. CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY II. THE
IMPORTANCE OF PLAY III. THE THEOLOGY OF PLAY IV.
CALLED TO PLAY
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Daddy, Wheres God? I want to play with him
now! Andrew Conway
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I. CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY II. THE
IMPORTANCE OF PLAY III. THE THEOLOGY OF PLAY IV.
CALLED TO PLAY V. THE DEVELOPMENTAL IMPORTANCE
OF PLAY

• Biological, such as hand-eye movement, expending
  of energy, and kinesthetic stimulation
• Intrapersonal, including a childs need for
  function, mastery over situations, and mastery
  over conflict
• Interpersonal, including a childs practice of
  separation and individualization, and learning of
  social skills and
• Socio-cultural, where children learn about
  culture and the roles of those around them.

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Play Therapy 1bPlay as Therapy
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I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?III. A BRIEF
HISTORY OF PLAYIV. APPROACHES TO PLAY
THERAPYV. THE BENEFITS OF PLAY THERAPYVI.
THE HEALING POWER OF THE RELATIONSHIP
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I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
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Enter into childrens play and you will find the
place where their minds, hearts, and souls meet.
Virginia Axline
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• PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
• Mary Anns case
• sexually abused by multiple perpetrators
• seriously disturbed, often barking like a dog and
  biting people.
• doctors to treat her with strong antipsychotic
  medication.
• I cannot tell you that play therapy instantly
  cured Mary Ann. But I can say this-it worked
  where nothing else had. She played out her
  anxieties and victimizations. Medications were
  discontinued. Eventually she was reunited with
  her mother.
• It was a matter of allowing a traumatized child
  to process unthinkable horrors in her own way, in
  her own time, and in her own language.

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• I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
  II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?
• Making toys available to children does not
  constitute play therapy.
• Garry Landreth defines play therapy as a dynamic
  interpersonal relationship between a child and a
  therapist trained in play therapy procedures and
  provides selected play materials and facilitates
  the development of a safe relationship with a
  child to fully express and explore self
  (feelings, thoughts, experiences, and behaviors)
  through the childs natural medium of
  communication, play.

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• I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
  II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?
• The play therapist should provide selected play
  materials.
• The play therapist must facilitate the
  development of a safe relationship.
• Play therapy provides the opportunity for the
  child to express and explore self more fully.
• Play therapy enables children to use their own
  natural medium of communication play.

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• I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
  II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?III. A BRIEF
  HISTORY OF PLAY
• Sigmund Freuds case of Little Hans Freud did
  not work directly with the five year old boy,
  but he advised Hans father about the different
  ways to respond to him. Freud He used the
  fathers notes about Hanss play as a basis for
  interpretation and counsel.

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• I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
  II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?III. A BRIEF
  HISTORY OF PLAY
• Sigmund Freuds
• The Center for Play Therapy at the University of
  North Texas is a clearinghouse of play therapy
  literature, featuring more than 2000 journal
  articles and books about the field.

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• I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
  II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?III. A BRIEF
  HISTORY OF PLAYIV. APPROACHES TO PLAY THERAPY
   
• Examine the three leading approaches
• Psychoanalytic
• Jungian
• Child centered

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• Examine the three leading approaches
• Psychoanalytic
• Jungian
• Child centered

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• Examine the three leading approaches
• Psychoanalytic
• Psychoanalytic play therapy finds its roots in
  Sigmund Freuds case of Little Hans Anna Freud
  used play as a means of promoting childrens
  verbalizations, while Klein believed that
  childrens play was equivalent to the free
  associations of adult clients. Anna Freuds
  approach has dominated the psychoanalytic
  approach to play therapy in this country

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• Examine the three leading approaches
• Psychoanalytic
• Jungian
• Jungian (Carl Jung) this approach to play
  therapy is based on the work of Jung and his
  personality theory of the ego, the personal
  unconscious, and the collective unconscious.
• The Jungian therapist is also both observer and
  participant, maintaining an analytical attitude
  to reflect on and comment about the psychological
  issues with which the child is struggling.
• Interpretation is considered important and is
  facilitated by comments and questions by the
  therapist.

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• Examine the three leading approaches
• Psychoanalytic
• Jungian
• Child centered
• Child-centered approach, based on theory by Carl
  Rogers the child-centered approach is based on
  the client-centered work of Carl Rogers and was
  developed primarily by Virginia Axline. The
  premise is that we all have within ourselves the
  ability to solve our own problems and that we
  have within us the innate striving for mature
  versus immature behavior.
• The role of the child-centered therapist is to
  facilitate the clients growth, and as such, the
  counselor does not lead or take responsibility
  for the direction of the play.

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I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?III. A BRIEF
HISTORY OF PLAYIV. APPROACHES TO PLAY
THERAPYV. THE BENEFITS OF PLAY THERAPY
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play has the power not only to facilitate normal
child development but also to alleviate abnormal
behavior. Dr. Charles Schaefer His list of
benefits for Play Therapy
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Overcoming resistance. Play draws children,
involuntarily clients, into a working
alliance. Communication. Play is the natural
medium of self-expression. Mastery. Play
satisfies childrens need to explore and master
the environment. Creative thinking. Play
encourages children to improve problem-solving
skills. Catharsis. In play, children can release
intense emotions that have been difficult of
impossible to confront. Abreaction. Children can
process and assimilate trauma by reliving it with
an appropriate expression of emotion. Role-play.
Children have the opportunity to try out
alternative behaviors. Fantasy. Play enhances the
use of the childs imaginations to make sense of
and overcome painful reality. Metaphoric
teaching. Children can experience adaptive
solutions for their conflicts and fears through
metaphor. Relationship enhancement. Play
facilitates a positive therapeutic
relationship. Enjoyment. Children fundamentally
enjoy play. Mastering developmental fears.
Repeated play experiences help reduce anxiety and
fear through systematic desensitization. Game
play. Games assist children in socialization and
developing ego controls.
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Abreaction. Children can process and assimilate
trauma by reliving it with an appropriate
expression of emotion. Role-play. Children have
the opportunity to try out alternative
behaviors. Fantasy. Play enhances the use of the
childs imaginations to make sense of and
overcome painful reality. Metaphoric
teaching. Children can experience adaptive
solutions for their conflicts and fears through
metaphor. Relationship enhancement. Play
facilitates a positive therapeutic
relationship. Enjoyment. Children fundamentally
enjoy play. Mastering developmental fears.
Repeated play experiences help reduce anxiety and
fear through systematic desensitization. Game
play. Games assist children in socialization and
developing ego controls.
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Metaphoric teaching. Children can experience
adaptive solutions for their conflicts and fears
through metaphor. Relationship enhancement. Play
facilitates a positive therapeutic
relationship. Enjoyment. Children fundamentally
enjoy play. Mastering developmental fears.
Repeated play experiences help reduce anxiety and
fear through systematic desensitization. Game
play. Games assist children in socialization and
developing ego controls.
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• V. THE BENEFITS OF PLAY THERAPY Garry Landreth
  asserts that play therapy helps the child
• Develop a more positive self-concept
• Assume greater self-responsibility
• Become more self-directing
• Become more self-accepting
• Become more self-reliant
• Engage in self-determined decision making
• Experience a feeling of control
• Become sensitive to the process of coping
• Develop an internal source of evaluation
• Become more trusting of self

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• PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT II.
  WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?III. A BRIEF HISTORY OF
  PLAYIV. APPROACHES TO PLAY THERAPYV. THE
  BENEFITS OF PLAY THERAPYVI. THE HEALING POWER
  OF THE RELATIONSHIP
• Anthony and I Playing with the Lego Castle
• Start to play
• Crashed into the castle and destroyed it over and
  over.

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Play Therapy 1cPlay Therapy in Action
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• I. WORKING WITH PARENTS
• II. INTIAL MEETING WITH PARENTS
• III. THE PLAYROOM AND MATERIALS
• IV. THE PLAYROOM
• WHAT ABOUT TOY WEAPONS IN THE
• PLAYROOM?

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I. WORKING WITH PARENTS Parents or
Guardians in traditional therapy, the parents of
clients may be only indirectly involved or not
involved at all. In play therapy, however,
parents will inevitably be a part of the process.
It is frequently parents who initiate counseling.
Most parents want to monitor the progress of
their childs therapy.
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I. WORKING WITH PARENTS Parents or
Guardians Play therapist Terry Kottman writes
parents are invaluable sources of information
about the childs developmental history and
interactional patterns.  
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• I. WORKING WITH PARENTS
• INTIAL MEETING WITH PARENTS
• first session is always with the parents
• One danger in the gathering this information is
  that it is tempting to rely on the assessment
  data rather than to use clinical skills and
  intuition.

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• Questions parents will have
• How often will the child becoming to sessions?
• How long will each session be?
• How much will each session cost?
• Will we talk to the play therapist? When and for
  how long?
• What will go on during an actual session?
• Will we get to hear all about it?
• When can we expect to see the effects of the
  treatment?
• How will we know if treatment is working?
• How long will treatment take from assessment to
  termination?

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• I. WORKING WITH PARENTS
• II. INTIAL MEETING WITH PARENTS
• THE PLAYROOM AND MATERIALS
• You can discover more about a person in an hour
  of play then in a year of conversation. --Plato
  
• See Handout

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• I. WORKING WITH PARENTS
• II. INTIAL MEETING WITH PARENTS
• III. THE PLAYROOM AND MATERIALS
• IV. THE PLAYROOM
• WHAT ABOUT TOY WEAPONS IN THE
• PLAYROOM?

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• Dos and Donts of Play Therapy for the Therapist
• Dont
• Dont criticize any behavior.
• Dont praise the child.
• Dont ask any leading questions.
• Dont allow interruptions of the session.
• Dont offer information or teach.
• Dont preach.
• Dont initiate new activities.
• Dont be passive or quiet.

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• Dos and Donts of Play Therapy for the Therapist
• Do
• Do set the stage.
• Do let the child lead.
• Do track behavior.
• Do reflect the childs feelings.
• Do set limits.
• Do salute the childs power and effort.
• Do join in the play as a follower.
• Do be verbally active.